Smith: Chargers better left unseen

The struggling team went through its Week 13 motions Sunday, losing a fourth-quarter lead and ultimately the game to Cincinnati Bengals, 20-13, at Qualcomm Stadium — in the dark.

Their game was blacked out locally for the third time this season as part of the NFL's long-standing policy that requires all games not sold out 72 hours before kickoff to be blacked out within a 75-mile radius of the stadium.

Few knew the NFL was so merciful — or brilliant — leaving the Chargers' dysfunction to the imagination rather than allowing it to be transmitted in high definition on network television.

Forlorn fans of the Chargers were spared having to see the ineptitude of their fourth consecutive defeat since the blackout served the same purpose as the low-resolution pixelization placed over the private parts of nude sunbathers on local TV news.

It's there to protect viewers from seeing something frightening, shocking and potentially disturbing or obscene.

Like the Chargers' late first-quarter drive that put them at first-and-goal at the Cincinnati 7. After Philip Rivers got sacked, they faced fourth-and-goal from the 2 and kicked a 20-yard Nick Novak field goal amid boos.

Then there was the Rivers' fourth-quarter sack and lost fumble on the San Diego 13, a play that rolled out the red carpet for the Bengals to take a 20-13 lead on a Mike Nugent field goal with 67 seconds left.

On fourth-and-10 with 47 seconds left, Rivers was picked off in the end zone, sending Chargers fans streaming for the exits.

Those fans who didn't watch the game might consider themselves fortunate to have missed seeing their team drop to 4-8 and be all but doomed to end a second consecutive season short of the playoffs.

Dissatisfaction over the Chargers likely has passed the level of outrage and moved deeper toward indifference.

Nobody wants to waste any more energy or breath booing and blasting owner Dean Spanos for extending the contracts of General Manager A.J. Smith and sixth-year coach Norv Turner.

Spanos' continuing support of Smith and Turner after an 8-8 season and playoffs absence in 2011 "was sending a strong message to his fan base in San Diego, 'I don't care what you think or feel,'" frustrated Chargers fan Martha Henderson said.

So it's now fans who are striking back by showing they don't care.

Not filling the stadium is one way. Not going to games when the Chargers are blacked out — Sunday's paid attendance was 54,980 — is another way.

Fewer San Diegans are sporting Chargers gear on NFL Sundays. No longer do sports bars or local living rooms fill with Bolts lovers.

"Because who wants to watch a team that has got no chance at a Super Bowl and a greater chance of letting you down?" asked Mark Grayson, 43, a longtime fan who would have had friends over and fired up the grill on Sunday had anybody been interested in watching a losing team.

Who wants to watch four-time Pro Bowl quarterback Rivers, who has more children (six) than he does open receivers and bodyguard lineman, get beat up? Who wants to see Ryan Mathews, the running back the Chargers moved up 16 spots to take 12th overall in the 2010 draft, carry the ball nine times for just 26 yards?

Worse, the battle cry isn't "Go, Chargers!" It's just a cry for help, "Go! Chargers" — as in go away, shoo, pack up and leave if you're going to lose.

"The more they stink, the more the fans say, 'See ya!'," Henderson said. "They can move to L.A. saying San Diego drove them away by not buying tickets (and showing loyal support)."

There's growing traction among disgruntled fans in the theory Chargers architects are purposely failing to invest in the necessary personnel so they can guiltlessly move to the franchise to another city.

Perhaps the Chargers, sorely in need of a new stadium to replace their Qualcomm relic, are seeking a new home in the Los Angeles-Orange County market, which hasn't had the Rams or the Raiders since 1995?

Potential homes in a proposed $1.5 billion downtown football stadium, Farmers Field, and billionaire Ed Roski's dream $800 million privately funded stadium in the City of Industry await an NFL transplant.

But construction won't get the green light until the NFL, which has been heavily profitable and growing without a team in the second-largest sports market, approves the relocation of one of its 32 teams.

That approval won't come unless the NFL is convinced that a team will thrive there.

Sure, the honeymoon between the Chargers and the Los Angeles market might make for a wonderful celebration. But what will happen when the novelty is gone and they actually start living together?

The Southern California market is famous — or notorious — for embracing winners and ignoring losers. And location doesn't seem to be the biggest of the Chargers' problems, since they appear equally skilled at losing both at home and away.

The Chargers have reached just one Super Bowl (1995) and made the made the AFC Championship once (2008) in the past decade, despite having a talent-laden roster of Rivers and 2006 MVP running back LaDainian Tomlinson.

This season has brought all-too-familiar disappointment. They tumbled at the feet of the Denver Broncos, 35-24, on Oct. 15, after leading 24-0 at halftime. They dropped their next game, 7-6, to the Cleveland Browns on Oct. 28 as they were unable to score a touchdown.

They lost on Nov. 25 after leading, 13-10, with one minute, 59 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, and let the Baltimore Ravens convert a fourth-and-29 to extend a game-tying drive and eventually win, 16-13, in overtime.